


Urban Legend

by pythagorean_identity



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Monsters, a lot of tagging/warnings are subject to change, mystery (for now)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-05-26 22:34:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15010880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pythagorean_identity/pseuds/pythagorean_identity
Summary: When rumors of a beast lurking in some warehouses get out of control, Roy Mustang is sent to investigate





	1. Something in the Warehouse

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Just to get it out of the way, if you leave a comment asking about any previous fic I posted in the past (if you know it, you know it), I'll delete your comment. I'm sorry if you enjoyed it, but it made me uncomfortable to write, and I don't want to talk about it beyond this little note here.  
> On a lighter topic, new, better fic! It's gonna be a little slow in the beginning, but I hope you enjoy! More tags and possibly characters will be added as I go along.

“Something in the warehouses,” Roy deadpanned. “Why do I feel like I’ve heard that one before?”

“No idea, sir, but we’ve got the orders to check it out,” Hawkeye said.

Roy sighed.

“No chance I can have someone else do the checking?” he asked. “I have plans tonight, and don’t want to have to cancel them for some wild goose chase.”

“Unfortunately not. You have the papers there in front of you, read them.”

Roy grumbled and scanned the orders. Something about some rumors getting out of control. A collection of missing pets, all near a set of warehouses. Complaints of odd noises, and the sighting of… something.

“If they want an alchemist can’t we have Fullmetal do it?”

Hawkeye gave him her signature glare.

“Alright, alright. I'll go check it out.”

 

The warehouses in question looked ordinary on the outside, and dark and dusty on the inside. But there had been rumors of a monster lurking about, which had apparently grown enough that command had wanted to send in an alchemist to deal with it. 

Roy sighed, and lifted his flashlight higher to cast light over the stacked crates. Mice and the occasional rat scurried away from the seeking beam, but nothing larger. 

“It’s probably just a mad dog. Or some kids playing a joke. I don’t know why they don’t have the MP’s doing this,” he grumbled to himself.

Yet, as he continued to check through the warehouses, Roy got the distinct feeling that he was being watched. No, watched was the wrong word. He felt like he was being stalked. Hunted. Like a mouse.

It had taken the better part of the day to check through the warehouses, and the sun was setting, but Roy could no longer find it within himself to be upset about missing his dinner plans. He felt too unsettled. He’d found a midden of rotting rat pelts, broken, hollow bones, and disgusting bits of trash too putrid for even the rodents scurrying away to consider food. But other than that, no signs of a lurking monster. He didn’t want to believe that the rumors were true, but he also didn’t want to do discredit to his gut feeling. No dog would keep it’s trash confined to one corner, a dog would leave what it couldn’t eat where it lay. And no human would feed itself on rats and garbage. This was no children’s prank.

There was something in the warehouses, and whatever it was, it was hunting Roy just as Roy was hunting it.

After the third time Roy had spun on his heel to point into dark nothingness behind him, he’d had enough.

“Whoever’s in here, come on out. You’re under arrest for trespassing. If you surrender now, you will not be harmed,” he called. 

Nothing but a faint echo of his voice answered him.

He waited a moment before an odd, low thrum filled the air. Something like the distant hum of an engine. Or a growl.

It was far too dark to continue, especially if there really was something lurking. Roy decided he’d return tomorrow. Certainly not because he was scared, no. Because he was smart. He was only one man, even if he was an alchemist, and he wanted backup. If there really was a monster in the warehouses, he didn’t want to get caught with his back to it. 

Even as he quickened his pace to the door, he assured himself. He wasn’t leaving because he was scared. 

 

Roy was only a little surprised that Al had decided to come along the next day. Those Elric brothers had a nose for trouble. Roy showed Hawkeye and Al the pile of bones and trash. Neither Roy nor Hawkeye could stay near long enough to examine it thoroughly, it reeked too badly, but Al, lacking a body and therefore the sense of smell, poked through the bones and trash with a stick. 

“Judging from what I can see in the damage to the bones, it’s probably at least as big as you two, maybe even as big as me,” Al said. “There are mostly rat bones in here, at least from what I can tell. A few cats, maybe. And either a dog or fox or something. But it can easily break the bones to get at the marrow inside. Either way, we’ve found the missing pets part of this investigation.”

“Glad you decided to come along. Didn’t know you knew so much about bones,” Roy said dryly.

“I read a lot. At night,” Al said.

Roy felt a twinge of sympathy for the younger alchemist. 

“Well? Any ideas?” he asked.

“Perhaps if we left out food for it, it would come out,” Al said.

“You think we should feed it? Judging by that pile of bones, it keeps itself fed just fine,” Roy said.

Al shrugged with a creak of metal.

“Well, we could figure out more about it if we did. Perhaps lure it into some sort of trap,” he said. “I know a few snares.”

“Trapping it might be our best bet at this point. If it’s big, like Al says, and judging from it’s… trash there, I’m not sure we’d necessarily want a face to face confrontation with it,” Hawkeye said.

Roy glanced around the warehouse.

“Alright, so what sort of trap should we set? I don’t think command would be too happy with us digging a pit trap in the middle of a warehouse,” Roy said.

“I did say I know a few snares,” Al said. “If you can bring back a few steaks or something, I can get started.”

“Are you sure you’ll be alright on your own?” Hawkeye asked.

Al nodded, the metal of his body creaking, the noise itself a reminder that any monster that may be lurking wouldn’t be able to harm him.

“Try not to do anything your brother would do,” Roy advised, which got a giggle out of Al.

“I’ll try!” he said cheerfully, and waved as Roy and Hawkeye made their way out of the building.

 

When Roy returned, there were alchemic circles drawn all over the floor, but nothing produced by them, and nobody who had drawn them.

“Al?” he called, setting down the bag with the steak in it.

Roy didn’t have the watched, hunted feeling he had from the previous day, but that was actually more unsettling than it was comforting. 

He stepped back outside.

“Al?” He called again.

“What’s wrong?” Hawekeye asked.

“Al’s drawn up circles all over the floor of the warehouse, but he’s not in there,” Roy said. “Ed’ll certainly have words to say if I’ve lost his brother.”

Thankfully, Roy would never have to hear whatever tirade Ed would launch himself on if Al had gone missing on Roy’s watch, as the younger Elric was running over, the clank of his armor all the fanfare needed.

“Sorry! I got distracted. I heard something outside, and went to go check. It was probably just some distant car or something, but…” Al said sheepishly.

“Did you find what it was?” Riza asked.

Al shook his head.

“No. I just wandered around a bit. Well, I was just about done anyways, all I have to do is activate the circles, it wasn’t like I was slacking off,” he said.

“We have the steaks now, so let’s make this trap of yours and be done for the day. I missed my dinner plans last night thanks to this monster, and I’m in no mood to spend all day searching for it again,” Roy said.

“We’ll have to come back this evening to check the trap, though,” Hawkeye reminded.

“I won’t forget,” Roy said.

He watched Al set the snare, and couldn’t shake the feeling that he was the only one watching.

 

So when he returned that evening to find the trap dismantled, with neither monster nor steak, he wasn’t wholly surprised.

“So now we know it’s smart enough to figure out a trap. I wouldn’t doubt it was watching us set up,” Roy grumbled.

“What do you think it is?” Hawkeye asked. “It can take apart a trap on it’s own, eats and hunts like a predator, and seems to have a considerable degree of intelligence. That doesn’t sound like any sort of animal I know.”

The feeling like he was being watched returned, and Roy turned around.

“Who’s there?” He called.

An odd noise echoed through the warehouse, like a spluttering growl, but it sounded almost… mocking. Like laughter. 

“Let’s go. I don’t think we should do any strategizing here,” Roy said.

Hawkeye nodded, looking just as unsettled as Roy felt.


	2. A New Strategy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter before we get to the GOOD STUFF

Al was surprisingly difficult to track down. He wasn’t in his hotel room, or the library, or any other place Roy checked. He was in the dining room of the hotel with his mechanic friend. Winry or whoever her name was.

“Mind if we borrow Al for a moment?” Roy asked, and the blonde girl sitting across from Al blinked in confusion at the two soldiers.

“Oh. You can sit down if you’d like,” she said.

“Unless the topic is something that would be… Winry, maybe I should step away a moment. I’ll be back,” Al said.

“No, it’s nothing that'll put you off your dinner,” Hawkeye said. “It managed to dismantle your trap. We’re going to have to try something else,”

“Trap?” Winry asked, sounding slightly confused. 

“You’ve heard the rumors about the monster in the warehouses, right?” Al said. “We’re trying to catch it. I set up a snare, but it seems to have outsmarted that.”

With a clank, Al looked down at the table. It was hard to tell, but Roy guessed he was deep in thought.

“You might as well sit down,” Winry said with a laugh. 

Roy was in the middle of pulling a chair over to the table when the waiter arrived.

“Two more?” he asked. “Can I get you two something to drink?”

“No, thank you. We’re only here to talk,” Riza said politely.

The waiter nodded, before turning his attention to Winry and Al.

“Have you decided on what you’re going to order?” 

“Yes, I’d like the pot roast,” Al said, and the other three stared at him.

“Um… Al?” Winry asked.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s for… later, ok?” He said, waving a large hand, clearly trying to avoid the subject until after the waiter had gone. Roy had a creeping suspicion it had something to do with the creature in the warehouse.

The waiter blinked in confusion, but quickly noted down Al, and then Winry’s orders, and despite Riza’s polite declination, returned a few moments later with two glasses of water for the soldiers.

“The pot roast?” Winry asked, once the waiter had gone.

“Yes, what exactly are you planning to do with that, Al?” Roy asked.

“I’m going to offer it to the creature in the warehouse,” Al said.

 

“It can’t hurt me! I’ll be fine,” Al said for the umpteenth time. “It’s not like I’d be doing anything too different back at the hotel than I would be doing at the warehouse. Chances are if we didn’t see it in the day, it’s nocturnal. I’m the best person for the job of luring a creature anyways, because not only am I unable to be hurt by it, but I can hold still a lot better than anyone else, and I don’t get tired. So I won’t nod off and have it make away with the meal while I’m sleeping.”

He had a good point. Roy still didn’t like it.

“What would your brother say about this?” Roy said.

“My brother isn’t around right now,” Al said stubbornly, and Roy was reminded that he was a fourteen year old boy. And an Elric, at that.

“What will you do when it does come to check out the food?” Roy asked, sighing. 

“For now? Just figure out what sort of creature it is. And then I’ll go from there,” Al said.

“And what if it’s not hungry?” 

“I brought fresh water too. If the food doesn’t draw it, then the water will.”

Roy had to admit. He certainly sounded sure of himself. The thought of just leaving Al, technically a civilian, alone and in charge of what should have been Roy’s job probably would keep him up that night, but at least Al wasn’t helpless. And he knew more about catching animals that Roy, who had lived almost all of his life in a city, did. 

 

“How about we don’t mention this little hunt to your brother, ok?” Roy said, parking his car at the warehouses.

Al nodded with a metallic clank.

“I’ll be back to pick you up at six, alright? If anything happens…” The colonel patted down his pockets, and produced enough change for a short phone call, and a slip of paper, which he scribbled his phone number down on quickly. “There is a phone booth about a block away.”

“Don’t worry, sir. I’ll be alright,” Al reassured, opening the car door and ducking out.

Roy watched him make his way over to one of the warehouses, before stepping out of his car to follow Al.

Roy watched Al set out the bait, not yet cooled fully, and a bowl of water, in a beam of moonlight. And then Al sat down, and removed his helmet, the glow in his eyes snuffing out.

“Are you sure that’s safe?” Roy asked. Without his helmet, the blood seal that bound him to the armor was on obvious display.

“My eyes are too obvious with the helmet on, and if I sit still enough, I can just observe it from here, and hopefully it won’t notice me at all,” Al said, sitting down just out of the light, setting the helmet down before himself.

Roy nodded, even though he was unsure if Al could see him in the darkness. How did Al see anyways? Thinking about Al’s living situation made Roy’s head hurt and stomach twist, so he dismissed the thought.

“See you at six, then,” Roy said, and returned to his car. 

He sat there for a few moments, before the abandoned atmosphere got to him, and he turned the car on, shifted the car into reverse.

As he turned the car around, two points of light flashed just beyond the headlights reach, brilliant and low to the ground.

Roy jumped and let out an embarrassingly startled yelp, and thankfully caught himself before he hit the car’s horn. Inching the car forwards slightly, the headlights illuminated the reflective points to be a cat too dirty to be of discernable color. The cat opened it’s mouth in a hiss that Roy couldn’t hear, before scrambling off.

Once his heart rate returned to a normal tempo did he complete his three-point turn and exit the warehouse yard to return home. He was glad nobody else had been in the car to witness that moment.


End file.
